Deal sourcing platforms help teams widen and fine-tune their deal funnel by giving them access to exclusive networks of market participants and a variety of tools to search and discover them faster. Out of all the stages in an investment banker’s deal flow, sourcing is where investments in technology can have one of the largest ROIs.
In this article, we’ll cover five leading deal sourcing platforms for investment bankers, focusing on their key features and what sets them apart.
Unlike broader platforms like PitchBook, which focus on company data, or LinkedIn, primarily used for networking, these deal sourcing platforms are designed to work specifically for capital markets professionals, including investment bankers, to streamline the entire deal origination process. They aim to help users discover and target relevant deals, promote mandates, manage outreach, and organize workflows.
- Aurigin: Focuses on middle-market deal flow with institutional-quality transactions, using advanced algorithms to match corporates with institutional investors globally.
- Axial: Specializes in confidential lower middle-market transactions, emphasizing relationship-driven business development and personalized outreach.
- Dealsuite: Designed for European M&A professionals, it connects users with local and international deals while expanding their networks on a more social platform.
- DealReach: Offers a simple, streamlined platform for acquirers, investors, and lenders to promote their mandates, using standardized templates and easy sharing tools to increase visibility and marketing efficiency.
- Sourcescrub: Emphasizes their advanced data analytics capabilities and market research tools on a platform with a larger amount of integrations.
Aurigin
Aurigin describes itself as a premium investment banking platform designed to connect qualified corporate deals with institutional providers of capital globally. They claim to be the largest source of middle-market deal flow worldwide and the world’s first deal origination platform using a “complex algorithmic approach” to match middle-market corporates seeking capital with the most relevant investors. Unlike others, Aurigin says, their platform screens and curates every deal submitted and includes a team of analysts that source deals for bankers who use the platform.
From the start, Aurigin lets users add their investment mandates or sell-side deals, which are then matched against counterparties using algorithms and their analyst team. The matched mandates or deals are sent to users, allowing them to connect with counterparties through Aurigin’s inbox for further discussions.
The Ultra plan, priced at $9,999 per user per month, includes a specialized key account manager, up to 20 investor introductions per month, unlimited deals, a match rate of over 95%, access to a specialized analytics investor team, and priority access to the “M&A vault.”
The Premium plan, which costs $7,499 per user per month, provides up to 10 investor introductions, a limit of 10 deals per month, a match rate of over 90%, and access to a specialized analytics team, alongside a key account manager.
The Basic plan is available for $4,999 per user per month and includes up to 5 investor introductions per month, a limit of 5 deals, and a match rate of over 85%, with a specialized key account manager. All plans feature a limited free trial period, which starts only after the first deal is created.
Axial
Axial positions itself as the largest online platform for buying, selling, advising, and financing private companies in the North American lower middle market with revenues ranging from $2.5M to $250M and EBITDA between $250K to $25M. The platform facilitates private and confidential transactions, allowing sell-side users have more control over their market approach.
From the start, Axial allows the buy-side to detail their investment criteria and interests, while the sell-side inputs company or transaction details confidentially. Axial’s algorithms then analyze the buy-side criteria and privately recommend relevant matches, allowing the sell-side to review, select, and send messages to approach parties. All interactions are done privately, with no public listings or deal searching capabilities available. Opportunities are sent directly to buy-side recipients, ensuring they fit preferences and come from qualified sell-side members.
Axial also provides tools for members to build relationships and manage deals efficiently. Members can use a customizable profile to showcase their track record, articulate deal criteria precisely, and build credibility as capable capital partners.
Additionally, the platform offers tools to streamline deal management, including digital NDAs, member-to-member messaging, document sharing, and CRM-style deal status updates to keep deal pipelines organized.
Pricing details for the platform are not provided publicly.
Dealsuite
Like other platforms, Dealsuite aims to make deal sourcing more efficient for M&A professionals and investors, using a matchmaking algorithm to provide quick access to thousands of projects, but with a focus on European markets. The platform says the majority of their deals are between €1-200 million, including minority, majority, and full-sale deals.
Like other platforms, Dealsuite allows users to easily identify qualified buyers, receive a steady stream of new opportunities, and grow their network by getting in direct contact with relevant market participants that have been screened manually on the platform.
More uniquely, Dealsuite emphasizes the benefit of gathering thousands of M&A professionals from different regions and industries across Europe, facilitating a greater mix of networking and deal sourcing on the platform.
The platform offers users full control over what information they share and with whom, enabling discrete deal discovery and users can decide whether to offer opportunities locally or internationally.
Designed for buy and sell-side deals, Dealsuite is designed to allow discrete discovery of interest in a business without disclosing critical information by using anonymized deal characteristics. The platform also offers an integrated NDA tool for managing confidentiality agreements.
Pricing details for the platform are not provided publicly.
DealReach
DealReach is a powerfully simple deal origination platform that gives acquirers, investors, and lenders an easier way to see more transactions and promote their mandates to the parties that matter. Created by MadeMarket, every DealReach profile is instantly accessible to thousands of transaction sources from our exclusively vetted deal network.
With standardized templates that make a profile’s investment criteria apples-to-apples for the sell-side, our platform turns the wide variety of unique mandates within and across firms into clear, accessible, and actionable data.
Altogether, a free DealReach profile makes investment mandates, portfolios, and deal histories more uniform and easily discoverable. With powerfully simple investment criteria templates designed around the diverse needs of buy-side professionals, DealReach is the easiest way for dealmakers to improve their visibility.
The platform also includes unique, easy-to-use sharing tools designed to simplify and supercharge marketing efforts. With DealReach, it's never been easier to share investment mandates across platforms by using our eye-catching criteria cards, which help individuals and their teams stand out in our increasingly social and digital-first deal marketing environment.
Getting started is free and set up takes less than five minutes, making it easy to benefit from and integrate DealReach within your existing deal origination strategy.
Sourcescrub
In addition to many of the standard features for discovery and outreach, Sourcescrub provides unique features for screening and prioritizing targets for users that are built around larger amounts of market data. Their “AI-driven platform” offers enhanced tracking capabilities with alerts triggered by company updates, news, and other dynamic market data signals.
Altogether, the company says they prove “the most complete, accurate, and connected view of private markets available.”
Sourcescrub also offers a browser extension for faster research and real-time data integration while browsing company websites. Additionally, it integrates with CRM systems to streamline workflows and accelerate outreach, while enriching contact and company information.
Additionally, the platform focuses on helping users develop industry expertise by providing access to proprietary research and market data alongside analytics tools designed to make various kinds of estimates and predictions about market and company movements.
Pricing details for the platform are not provided publicly.
